Wolverine (comic book)

Wolverine is a number of Marvel Comics comic book series starring the X-Men member Wolverine. As of April 2013, 323 issues and 11 annuals have been published. It is the original flagship title created for the character.

Wolverine
Cover of Wolverine #1 (September 1982)
Art by Frank Miller
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
ScheduleMonthly
Format
Publication date
No. of issues
Main character(s)Wolverine
Creative team
Written by
Penciller(s)
Inker(s)
Letterer(s)
Colorist(s)
Editor(s)Louise Jones
Collected editions
WolverineISBN 978-0-7851-3724-5

Publication history

Volume 1
Frank Miller (left) signing a print of his artwork for the cover of Vol. 1 #1 at an appearance at Midtown Comics. Beside him is artist Greg Capullo.

The first Wolverine was a four issue limited series (the company's second-ever limited series), written by Chris Claremont with pencils by Frank Miller, inks by Joe Rubinstein, letters by Tom Orzechowski, and colors by Glynis Wein. Marvel Comics published the series from September to December of 1982. This story arc covers the events leading up to Wolverine's engagement to Mariko Yashida.

Volume 2

An ongoing series started publication in 1988 and lasted until 2003 when it was relaunched after issue #189. The original creative team consisted of writer Chris Claremont and penciler John Buscema. Claremont described the series as "high adventure rather than super heroics, sort of a combination of Conan meets Terry and the Pirates."[1] As a visual manifestation of the series' break from the traditional superhero genre, throughout Claremont's run, Wolverine wears either civilian clothes or a mask-less, all-black outfit instead of his superhero costume, and costumed characters in general were few and far between.[2]

Nearly half of the series' run was written by Larry Hama. Other writers on the series included Peter David, Archie Goodwin, Jo Duffy, Warren Ellis, Todd Dezago, Erik Larsen, Steve Skroce, Rob Liefeld, Frank Tieri, Matt Nixon and Daniel Way. Marc Silvestri penciled Wolverine from 1990 to 1992. The second volume carries ties to both the "Apocalypse: The Twelve" and the "Ages of Apocalypse" story arcs.

Volume 3

Volume 3 shares large ties to the "House of M", "Decimation", and "Civil War" story arcs, which made a large impact to the Marvel universe. The "Old Man Logan" story arc is also prominent in the third volume as well. As part of the "Dark Reign" storyline, the series was renamed Dark Wolverine in 2009 with issue #75 and starred Wolverine's son, Daken. The third volume began in July 2003, and ended in August 2009 with issue #90.

Volume 4

A fourth volume was launched in September 2010 with a new #1. Consisting of the "Wolverine Goes to Hell" and "Goodbye Chinatown" story arcs, the fourth volume ended after issue #20, and the series returned to its original ongoing numbering as issue #300.

How Marvel reached issue #300 is like this: Volume 2 (#1-189), Volume 3 (#1-74/#190-263) Wolverine: Weapon X (#1-16/#264-279) and Volume 4 (#1-20/#280-299), with Volume 4's issue #21 ending up as #300.

It concluded with issue #317 in December 2012 in the wake of the Marvel NOW! initiative.[3]

Volume 5

As part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Wolverine Vol. 4 was cancelled as of issue #317 and a fifth volume was launched in March 2013, with the creative team of Paul Cornell and Alan Davis.[4] The fifth volume consists of the "Hunting Season" and "Killable" story arcs of Wolverine's life, with a brief run of 13 issues. Volume 5 serves as one of the preludes to the "Death of Wolverine" story arc.

An additional series titled Savage Wolverine debuted in January 2013. The title features team-ups between Wolverine and other Marvel superheroes.[5]

Volume 6

A sixth volume of Wolverine by Paul Cornell and Ryan Stegman was launched as part of All-New Marvel NOW! initiative in February 2014, featuring a changed Wolverine, who has joined a group of minor supervillains as an attempt to simplify his life.[6] The sixth volume ran for thirteen issues, and also serves as a prelude to the "Death of Wolverine" story arc.

Volume 7

A seventh volume of Wolverine was relaunched as part of Dawn of X in February 2020, written by Benjamin Percy and illustrated by Adam Kubert.[7] The seventh volume is also connected to the Reign of X story arc as well.

Prints
Issue Publication date Writer Artist(s) Colorist(s) Comic Book Roundup rating[8] Estimated sales to North American retailers (first month) Notes
#1 February 19, 2020 Benjamin Percy Adam Kubert and Viktor Bogdanovic Frank Martin and Matthew Wilson 8.3 by 23 professional critics 190,568[9] None
#2 March 25, 2020 Adam Kubert Frank Martin 7.9 by 15 professional critics 74,228[10]
#3 July 22, 2020 8.1 by 9 professional critics Data not yet available
#4 August 19, 2020 Viktor Bogdanovic Matthew Wilson 8.2 by 10 professional critics
#5 September 2, 2020 7.4 by 6 professional critics
#6 October 7, 2020 7.8 by 11 professional critics X of Swords tie-in
#7 November 11, 2020 Benjamin Percy
Gerry Duggan		 Joshua Cassara Guru e-FX 7.9 by 10 professional critics
#8 December 30, 2020 Benjamin Percy Viktor Bogdanovic
Adam Kubert		 Antonio Fabela
Matt Wilson		 8.1 by 10 professional critics None

In other media

The story arc from Volume 1 concerning Logan's exploits in Japan has been loosely adapted into the 2013 live-action film, The Wolverine, directed by James Mangold and starring Hugh Jackman as Logan, with Tao Okamoto, Hiroyuki Sanada and Rila Fukushima,[11] being the sixth installment to the X-Men film series.

Reception

IGN gave the trade paperback collection of the first Wolverine series a "Must Have" rating.[12]

Collected editions
Main article: Wolverine (character)

References
  1. "Marvel A to Z". Marvel Age Annual (4). Marvel Comics. 1988. p. 28.
  2. Zimmerman, Dwight Jon (November 1988). "Bob Harras". Comics Interview (62). Fictioneer Books. pp. 5–7.
  3. "Marvel Comics Solicitations for December, 2012". Comic Book Resources. September 19, 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-20.
  4. "Cornell and Davis Tackle "Wolverine" For Marvel NOW!". comicbookresources.com. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  5. Wheeler, Andrew (8 October 2012). "Marvel NOW! Q&A: Savage Wolverine". Marvel.com. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  6. "Cornell & Stegman Relaunch "Wolverine" With Some "Payback"". Comic Book Resources. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  7. Wolverine (2020) #1
  8. "Wolverine (2020) Comic Series Reviews at ComicBookRoundUp.com". Comic Book Roundup. Retrieved 2020-02-20.
  9. "February 2020 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops". Comichron. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
  10. "March 2020 Comic Book Sales to Comics Shops". Comichron. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
  11. Marshall, Rick (2009-08-10). "Hugh Jackman Offers 'Wolverine 2' Update: 'We're Starting To Work On It Now'". MTV. Archived from the original on August 23, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  12. "Wolverine TPB Review". IGN. May 19, 2006.
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